LONDON (KGO) -- There is outrage from the British Royal Family after a newspaper published images of Queen Elizabeth giving what appears to be a Nazi salute.

The Sun newspaper released a picture from an old home movie of 7-year-old Elizabeth performing the salute with her mother, sister and uncle in 1933 when Adolf Hitler came to power.

A military historian told The Sun they were joking. "I start from the position, The Sun starts from the position, a relatively purist position, that it is in the public and national interest to reveal what is a document, a piece of footage of historical and cultural significance," Sun Newspaper Managing Editor Stig Abell said.

"And I read thousands and thousands of her letters written in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and I would say there is not a scintilla of evidence that she wrote anything ever or felt anything ever that was pro-Nazi," William Shawcross said.

Police are searching for the person who copied the clip from the restricted Royal archive and released it to the paper.

Buckingham Palace called it 'disappointing' that a film, shot eight decades ago was being exploited by the paper.